Cool Gardens: Peace of mind

Cool Gardens: Peace of MindWorking in her Marcellus garden helped Dolores Sanford in her two battles against cancer. Video by Gloria Wright

Dolores Sanford's gardens started in the front yard, then spread throughout her 2-acre property on Falls Road in Marcellus.

There are annuals, perennials, roses, vegetables, apple and pear trees and blueberry and raspberry bushes.

Some of the plants she started from seeds. Some were gifts from her family and neighbors.

Next, she plans to add a pond and a waterfall.

"I just keep adding stuff," she said. "A lot of times, I just see things and put them in."

Gardening helped her as she twice successfully battled stage 4 cancer, in 2001 and again in 2011.

Even while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, when she could not be in the sun Sanford would find a shady spot and weed.

"I'd do whatever I could do to be with nature," she said. "You can lose your thoughts. ... You don't have to think about anything," she said.

Although Dolores doesn't like talking about her cancer, her husband, Paul Sanford, said she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2001. Doctors in Syracuse and Buffalo gave her almost no chance of living. But she survived a 10-hour operation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, a month in the hospital, a year of chemotherapy and six months of radiation therapy.

"That surgery would have killed a man," the surgeon told Paul. "Women are stronger than men."

In 2006, the surgeon called the Sanfords' house and was surprised when Dolores answered the telephone, Paul said.

In 2011, the cancer returned, and Dolores again underwent surgery and chemotherapy.

"The gardens are very peaceful. I hear her out there singing with the birds."

The story of Dolores Sanford's garden is part of a series of unique gardens that will be featured this summer in the Home & Garden section. If you'd like to nominate a garden, send an email to home@syracuse.com and include the address and contact phone number, plus a photo or two.